Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Here Comes The New AG

The court provides a new opening to Trump and his attorney general designate, Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions. A congressional vote confirming Sessions could occur as early as Jan. 10, but Senate Democrats indicated they will put up a stiff fight to defeat the nomination.

Tuesday’s decision in “Judicial Watch vs. Kerry” affects emails the former secretary and her aides sent and received using private email addresses and a homebrew server in Clinton’s New York mansion to conduct official business. About half of the 55,000 pages of emails from the server were voluntarily handed over to the State Department by Clinton’s lawyers.

Current Secretary of State John Kerry refused to refer the matter to the attorney general as federal law requires. Instead, he allowed State Department officials to pick and choose which emails could be withheld and released to the public.

But the three-judge appeals court panel ruled that the Federal Records Act, “requires the agency head and Archivist to take enforcement action through the Attorney General if those (search) efforts are unsuccessful.”

Better late than never to have an administration that would actually follow the law...